“At the moment, Nicolas (Jackson) is our striker, I have no doubts”Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca said on Friday, September 20, confirming that French international Christopher Nkunku was the Senegalese center forward’s understudy in his mind.
Nkunku confined to being Jackson’s understudy
The 26-year-old French striker (10 caps) arrived in the summer of 2023 from Leipzig with a star status reinforced by his €65 million transfer fee, but injuries have blighted his first season. New coach Enzo Maresca used him extensively during pre-season, before relegating him to the substitutes’ bench when the Premier League began. A regular and scorer in the Conference League, Nkunku scored the only goal against Bournemouth (1-0) last weekend seven minutes after replacing Jackson.
“For me, at the moment, Nicolas (Jackson) is our striker, I have no doubts given the way he works every day”in training and in matches, said the Italian manager at a press conference. “Since the start of the season, with our way of playing we have used Nicolas, but that does not mean that we will not use Marc (Guiu) or Christopher at number 9, depending on the matches”Maresca developed. “We are currently very happy with Nicolas”.
The Blues boss took advantage of the press conference given before the short trip to West Ham on Saturday (1:30 p.m.) to clarify the distribution of his many attackers.
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For him, Jadon Sancho and Mykhailo Mudryk are competing for the left wing position, while Noni Madueke and Pedro Neto are on the right. At playmaker, he is counting on Cole Palmer or Joao Felix, one of the many summer recruits.
